Pentecost

At Fountain of Blessings we literally live from celebration to celebration!

Our God is a God of Feasts and appointed times. Presently, we look forward to Shavuot.

Shavuot is the celebration of the wheat harvest and the ripening of the first fruits, which is the reason for the other two biblical names for this holiday:

"Yom Habikurim" or the "Day of the First Fruits."

"Chag HaKatzir," the "Harvest Festival.

Celebrations include lighting of candles, hearing the Ten Commandments read in the Synagogue, and staying up late to read and hear the words of the Torah (the Law given to Moses).

It is a special and sacred time, as it is a reflection upon God's special relationship with the Jewish people, and the giving of the law represents that unique covenant. Since Shavuot commemorates the giving of the Torah at Sinai exactly seven weeks after the Passover, it is often considered the day Judaism was born.

Pentecost comes from the Greek Πεντηκοστή (Pentēkostē) meaning "fiftieth" (50th). It refers to the festival celebrated on the fiftieth day after Passover, also known as the "Feast of Weeks" in the Septuagint and the "Feast of 50 days" in rabbinic tradition.

Pentecost is likened to the day the Church was born.

The death and resurrection of Jesus occurred during the Passover feast; and the Holy Spirit was given in a mighty way during this next great feast, a feast celebrating God's covenant and Law.

The account is given in Acts Chapter 2: people from various nations and languages heard and understood each other. Peter preached the Gospel and 3,000 people were baptized that day. It is on Pentecost that the promise of the Holy Spirit was fulfilled, and the Church was truly born.